I just finished Joseph Atwill's book, Caesar's Messiah. I didn't really take me a month to read, I just put it down several times to play video games and be a dad. It's a well-written book that kept me mostly enthralled throughout. But it's also bringing forward some tremendous ideas that frankly take a little time to digest -- and this is coming ( Read more... )

Since the Winter holidays, I've been playing Skyrim with some absurd frequency. It's an amazing, immersive game that does the whole "D&D" thing so well it makes Diablo look like Rogue. This whole time, I've only played the one character I started with. As he's started to edge up toward level 50, he's begun to top out on some of his most used skills ( Read more... )

This essay by Forbes contributor Thomas J. Basile is delightful on several levels, not the least of which is his bitter moaning about the impotence of the Republican party. Once you get past the reframing front-loaded into the first half of the article, there are some pretty bald observations of how the GOP have defeated themselves, or at least ( Read more... )

It's human nature to seek to prevent calamity. When children die, we ask, "How could that have been prevented?" Sometimes, the result is legislation that circumscribes danger. Other times, we make cultural adjustments to save lives ( Read more... )

Last night, I watched "American Hostage" on NatGeo. It was primarily about the detention of Terry Anderson, who was held in Lebanon for nearly seven years. Other Americans who had been detained in Lebanon were also mentioned, but there were extensive interviews with Anderson, his ex-wife, his now-grown daughter, and some shorter interviews with ( Read more... )

Oh yeah. I was playing around in Ancient Rome last night, using the new virtual models set into Google Earth. This thing is really awesome. Many of the buildings are accurately faced, and have links for more info, interior tours, and the like. It's very extensive: someone would have to dedicate a lot of time to actually exploring the whole city as ( Read more... )

It finally occurred to me what was so jarring about the stories of Ed McMahon's financial difficulties. For whatever reason, Ed has been unable to pay out for the lifestyle to which he is accustomed since about 2005. Not that this has caused him to make any significant changes, mind you. In this, he is hardly alone or unusual, so other than the ( Read more... )

I'm enjoying the Marvin Vining book, Jesus the Wicked Priest, but not because I agree with his conclusions. In fact, the more I read, the further removed I become from agreement. He's another armchair archaeologist, so I feel a certain kinship with him. This despite the fact that the guy has to go through some mesmerizing gyrations to tie his pet ( Read more... )

Here's a site that offers a unique, hi-res view of daVinci's Last Supper. Very useful if you're caught into a controversy regarding the gender of the 'beloved apostle' or the owner of the knife.

The latest issue of BAR revisits the much hyped Gospel of Judas, and has some unkind words for National Geographic and their media-heavy release of the original material. The biggest complaint was that they picked the wrong scholars who didn't understand Gnostic cultures and misinterpreted key passages of the text. Most significantly, NatlGeo ( Read more... )